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My Favorite Things

About a week ago I wrote about how the small cities we live in here in the San Gabriel Valley give us some favorite things. Things we hang onto for familiarit, convenience or nostalgia.

One of those I lamented was the loss of the drive-through post office box from the Temple City Post Office.
I got an email from Barbara Dreibus who set me straight:
“In today’s Star-News, you mention that the drive through post box was removed from the Temple ICty Post Office, which is true. However, you must not have read the note on their door, which tells you that the drive through post box was moved to the public parking area of Primrose, between Woodruff and Las Tunas. It evidently was move dthere for stafety reasons. I,too, was concerned at first that it was gone, but I find it easier now in that public parking lot than I did at the post office itself” -Barbara Dreibus

Thanks Barbara!
On Tuesday night, I had to mail a letter and I was in my car, coming from Baldwin Avenue. I found the public parking lot and there was the new post office box. It still had that chute that makes it easy to slip in an envelope right from the car window! I would not have known this was there without Barbara’s e-mail. She made my week!

On the issue of the Star Donuts store (on Las Tunas Drive) no longer selling low-fat muffins, I still am looking for some good low-fat muffings. But I received an e-mail on the subject that If I find, I will post. A reader said I should buy those Zen muffins from Traders Joe’s. I love Traders’ but I don’t like those Zen muffins. Besides, my Weight Watchers teacher says the calorie/fat info on the label is for a half a muffin, not a whole one. So beware!

I received another e-mail from a San Gabriel Valley Tribune reader, who shared with me her favorite deli. Here’s her e-mail (Many old timers might recognize the establishment):

“I just wanted to tell you about one of my favorite places – and it’s still there. It’s Canter’s Deli on Fairfax in L A. I grew up living near there and it was a favorite. We used to walk there after school and have fries and a coke. Later we used to go for the good stuff – huge cornerd beef sandwiches on rye, lox and bagels, pastrami, and of course the bakery stuff. My mother used to buy me a pound of my favorite baked chocolate thing (I can’t remember the name) for my birthdays when I was in college.

I don’t drive the freeway now and have no way to get there except if my sister will pick me up at the subway at Wilshire & Western. A couple of years ago she said she wouldn’t —– because I always want to do the same thing – go to Canter’s and drive by the old neighborhood —– and that I was wrong for not wanting to try NEW THINGS. Well, if I want to try NEW THINGS, I can try them in West Covina or in this area. The whole thing about making the awful trip to LA is seeing the old favorites……….Canter’s, Farmer’s Market (not The Grove, which is new), parts of Hollywood Blvd., and the old neighborhood near Santa Monica and La Cienega, where the famous Barney’s Beanery is. Why see NEW THINGS when these old ones have so much class and so many memories?

Sorry I got so detailed, but I really did appreciate your editorial and wanted to share my opinion with you.”

S Grey
West Covina

Bob Aronoff of Pasadena sympathized with my complaint that restaurants are on a mission to make us fat and unhealthy! He recommended one pleace that doesn’t do that. “The place is called “Fanta-Sea” It is a seafood eatery. Plain vanilla kind of place with the emphasis on the food, not the decor. Almost everyhting is prepared from scratch. Service is personal and good.”
Thanks Bob. I’ll have to check it out.

About Steve Scauzillo

I love journalism. I've been working in journalism for 32 years. I love communicating and now, that includes writing about environment, transportation and the foothill/Puente Hills communities of Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut and Diamond Bar. I write a couple of columns, one on fridays in Opinion and the other, The Green Way, in the main news section. Send me ideas for stories. Or comments. I was opinion page editor for 12 years so I enjoy a good opinion now and then.